Resident Complains About Selectman's Behavior on BudCom
Board member Stephen Campbell argued against an email taking issue with his work as a Selectmen representative.
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Selectmen took up a resident's email complaint on Jan. 7 that accused board member Stephen Campbell of "going after the school budget" during Budget Committee meetings.
The email, sent to Chairman Pat Hargreaves by resident Mark Hillner, slammed Campbell for "using his personal philosophy as justification" for his decisions as a Selectmen's representative to the committee.
"I believe either you made a terrible appointment or Mr. Campbell is out of control," Hillner said in the message. "We will get nothing passed in our town if such an adversarial atmosphere is allowed to exist. Both sides of the street need to work together."
Countering the claims, Campbell, a 16-year veteran of the Budget Committee, said that he believes that he reviewed the school budget the same way the majority of the school committee reviewed the town budget.
One of the amendments that Campbell proposed was to eliminate two or three positions at a cost of $150,000. He compared the cuts to the three positions removed on the town side, saying that it was "not a big deal" to ask the school side to make similar cuts.
Campbell's motion failed 6-3, with Campbell and committee members Patrick McDougall and Dane Hoover in the minority.
He also moved to cut $240,000 geared toward future work at Salem High School, claiming the district had provided "insufficient information" on how the money would be spent and arguing later it should be a separate warrant article.
Campbell said that the school side came in with a 2 percent increase in their budget, and they were projecting 3.9 percent less students.
"I think the general philosophy of trying to get the tax rate down was fully represented by my questions, by my motions," Campbell said. "And I have no apologies for that."
He said that despite all of his questions, the committee reviewed $62 million in less than five hours.
Hargreaves backed up his appointment of Campbell to the Budget Committee.
"I appointed Selectmen Campbell to that position because I thought that he would look out for the best interest of the town of Salem and its residents," he said.
Selectman Jim Keller said that he has also received calls and emails giving negative feedback to Campbell's work on the Budget Committee.
"The feedback I got was folks felt as though you were leading discussions about budgets with respect to the school which may or may not represent how we feel," he said.
Campbell argued that he believes he represented the majority of the Selectmen, despite some members not agreeing with the cuts to the town budget.
Selectman Mike Lyons spoke about how he handles working as a Selectmen's representative, saying that he never tries to lead the discussion.
Hargreaves received an initial email from Hillner on Dec. 15 before forwarding it along to the other board members.
Hillner also said in the message that he would not vote for any incumbent who supports Campbell's actions. He closed the message by saying that he has never before emailed a member of town government.
The matter was pushed until after the holiday season to be discussed by the board.
Patriot
6:30 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Typical small town politics!
Do you think there are people that don't like cutting a budget?
If Keller was the rep for the budget hearings and added in money Campbell would have been upset. So I guess someone will not be happy no matter how they assign seats.
More than 50 years in Salem
7:30 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Keep up the good work Mr Campbell.
Love NH
7:52 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
The school board and selectman's representatives should not have a vote. They should be there to provide information and support their boards position. The other seven members of the committee have been elected by the residents of Salem. Why does the chairman of these two boards get to pick 1/9th of the members.
And I agree that Patrick Hargreaves made a terrible choice is selecting Stephen Campbell. If I have to hear him say "If you vote for this it will keep something else from being approved" I will scream. Get a new tune already. You have been saying that for a decade and yet bonds and warrants still get approved.
Patriot
9:22 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Then what is your gripe? "Live Free or Die" (turn off the TV)
Keith Stramaglia
11:34 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Love NH I agree 100 percent with you, in my mind Selectman Campbell and Selectman Hargreaves are on a buddy buddy system, you do for me i will do for you, i see it all the time when i watch the meetings, also Selectman Campbell uses that "If you vote for this it will keep something else from being approved" as tool to get what he wants, he's anti Public Safety, every time The Chief Breen goes in front of the selectmen to either hire a FF or get overtime Selectman Campbell always tells him to find another way, like when the Fire Chief wanted to put on 1 FF to man the Rescue at night, Campbell told him take the man of the Engine, that would take that engine out of service, he has no clue what he is doing, he is speaking for himself not the People of Salem. he Has my Cousin Arthur Barnes seat, a man who knows about Public Safety, i just may run to get that seat back.
JB
11:41 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Now Arthur was a selectman that you could respect. Thoughtful and considerate. I remember when he was a Budget Committee representative. He did a great job there and always kept his cool.
Patriot
2:02 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
JB, is that the Selectman that bought his masters degree? Why would I not think he could agree with other department heads that wanted to keep their budgets high?
Keith Stramaglia, at first I thought you where independent, maybe even a fireman then you called his cousin. That put an end to the sense of unbiased.
JB
8:06 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Can someone explain to me why Mr. Campbell is complaining about a 2% increase in the school budget when the town budget is up over 6%.
Stephen Campbell
8:57 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
The BOS budget for 2013 would reduce the town portion of the tax rate1%.
The school district has 5% less students this year and are projecting another decrease of 3.9% in the number of students so it is much harder to justify any increase in the school portion of the tax rate.
Stephen Campbell
JB
9:45 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
But the town budget is up by a larger percent than the school budget, correct?
Patriot
5:17 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
2% of 1 million dollars is slightly more than 6% of 100,000 dollars.
Population of students is down, population of town increases
School adds positions, Town eliminates positions
Patriot
9:26 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
It should be!
We now have kindergarten and another pay raise to fund.
Can anyone tell me one antiquated program a member of the school board has eliminate?
Give the kids computers and eliminate schools. Home schooling sounds so interesting!
Patriot
9:28 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
With a 6 to 3 vote I would not worry about the impact of the minority. It is nice to hear what the majority won't say.
Michael Ryan
10:24 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thank you for the clarification Stephen, I should have noted in the article where the town budget is at in regards to increase/decrease from last year.
JB
3:59 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
What clarification. He hasn't responded regarding the budget. Only the tax rate.
Dr. NO
11:01 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Great job Mr. Campbell. Remain vigilent and keep asking the tough questions no one else is willing to ask. We know that you have the best interests of the majority of the hard working citizens at heart. You have my wholehearted support.
Riley Reid
11:50 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
What is it that Mr Campbell is doing that is so great? Anyone can sit there and ask "but why" on every line item, but the person I want there is someone who has a plan and some solutions. Mr Campbell doesn't bring either of those to the table.
The current BOS is just spinning their wheels, nothing is getting better in Salem and they just play the blame game, "it's the school departments fault, it's benefits, it's this, that and the other thing".
BOS members need to get out of the mind set that they are running this town. We have a town manager who seems to know what he's doing. Leave him alone and let him do his job.
Patriot
2:05 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Now I know you off base! He did a great job on the local government center board!!!
"I am here from the government and I am here to help"
Michael Ryan
4:07 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Hi JB, you're right. Misread what he wrote.
Larry Weil
1:47 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
When Pat read the letter at Monday's meeting the feeling i got was that this is a threatening letter, so why should they give it the time of day (or evening in this case)? It just encourages more people to send threatening letters. If people can't be civil they should be ignored.
Patriot
2:09 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Larry that is what elections are for. There will always be people on the losing side that continue to cry sour grapes.
Gary Boutin
1:24 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Campbell has always worked to lower rates on the town and School sides. He gets my vote. Only Obama Voters cry sour grapes.lol
B. SHANER
4:13 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The fact of the matter is, Stephen Campbell has cost this town money, by his stall tactics and lack of any positive and progressive leadership. If you watch meetings he lectures and bullies people.
Simon Says
5:01 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
YAWN
Riley Reid
1:30 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
You are so right B. Shaner! I can put my 12 yr old in that seat and tell him to say "NO" to everything! But watch what you say about him, he is very vindictive !
Patriot
9:39 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
B. Shaner if you intend on living here for the next 30 years he (Selectman Campbell) has save me money.